Wearing dark sunglasses as he quietly emerged from the Maple Leafs dressing room, injured defenceman Carlo Colaiacovo had almost quietly snuck out of Lakeshore Lions Arena when he was spotted by one of the team's assistant coaches.

Colaiacovo would love to trade in his glasses for a pair of skates. Having been shut down late in training camp to allow his surgically-repaired knee some much-needed healing time, Colaiacovo is hoping to return to the ice sometime next week.

"I'm feeling so much better,"Colaiacovo said. "It's making good progress.

"I wouldn't call this a setback. I tried to test it in camp as an experiment considering how anxious I was, but there still was a lot of pain.

"I want to be in there. It is so tough to watch."

What, us worry?

While the city panics at the Leafs 0-2 start, Jason Blake insists the team remains calm.

Asked about the headline in yesterday's Toronto Sun that proclaimed "Leafs: Wait Until Next Year," Blake said Toronto is taking it all in stride.

"I thought we played pretty well, especially (Thursday),"Blake said. "If you are ready to push the panic button already, you should be looking in the mirror."

Montreal reporters loved the headline in question. In fact, the front page of yesterday's Sun was scheduled to appear in today's Le Journal.

Loose Leafs

Coach Paul Maurice said Kyle Wellwood is still some time away from returning to the ice. Wellwood underwent groin surgery two weeks ago, meaning the original best-case scenario of missing three weeks won't be met ... Now that he has made the Leafs roster, defenceman Anton Stralman will not discuss any desire to go back to Sweden if he is shipped down to the Marlies. "Right now I'm here as the seventh defenceman so I don't want to think about it," he said. ... Ben Ondrus was named captain of the Marlies, who open their season today against the Rochester Americans. Game time is 4:30 p.m. at Ricoh Coliseum.